Trichlorosilane (SiHCl3), which is used as a raw material for the production of highly pure silicon (Si), can be produced by conversion through a reaction of silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4: tetrachlorosilane) with hydrogen.
In other words, silicon is produced by the reductive reaction and the thermolysis reaction of trichlorosilane represented by reaction schemes (1) and (2) shown below, and trichlorosilane is produced by the conversion reaction represented by reaction scheme (3) shown below.SiHCl3+H2→Si+3HCl  (1)4SiHCl3→Si+3SiCl4+2H2  (2)SiCl4+H2→SiHCl3+HCl  (3)
As an apparatus for producing trichlorosilane, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent No. 3,781,439) proposes a reactor in which a reaction chamber surrounded by a heating element is of a dual chamber design having an outer chamber and an inner chamber formed by two concentrically positioned pipes, and a heating element is provided around the outside of the reaction chamber. In this reactor, a gas in the reaction chamber is reacted by heating the reaction chamber from the outside, using heat generated through energization of the heating element which is a heating section formed of carbon and the like.